Location: United Kingdom
Two things form the basis of all my work: a reverence for, and a desire to represent
the wonder of nature; and a wish to illustrate the essential 'now' - that ever-fleeting moment when eternity is glimpsed but never retained.
The medium of mosaic is a continual challenge to an artist because of its inevitable gravity and permanence. My aim is to find ways of defying this essence.
I perpetually try to innovate with techniques and materials to achieve this.
Nature is a recurrent theme in my work: its dominance, its universality, its omnipresence and particularly its awesome indifference to human concerns. I focus on esoteric and philosophical
questions expressed in a figurative and contemporary way.
“IN BETWEEN THE LINES (Detail)”
There are two obvious types of use of mosaic here, each with its own specific properties. There is angular rigidity, using ceramic and smalti tiles, indicative of the mundanity of everyday existence, an architectural landscape of rhythm and routine. I have encapsulated the individual life within it by figuratively using, holograms, 3D images, broken china, mirrors and turquoise and to highlight the precious moments: stained glass and more light-catching materials. The other use of mosaic is in the omnipresent spiral, where, by contrast, I have hand cut circular iridized tiles to signify nature’s celestial quality.
“While making the Koi mosaic, strangely I began to see it as much more a creature of the air than of water and ‘FREE AS THE AIR’ kept coming into my head as the title for it. When I researched the mythology of the Koi, so strongly embedded in Japanese culture, it said that according to legend, if a koi succeeds in swimming upstream and climbing the waterfalls at a point on the Yellow River called Dragon Gate, it will be transformed from a fish into a dragon – a creature of the air! I love this serendipity!
My own “Dragon Gate” was to represent the easiness and lightness that Koi seem to embody in their hypnotic fluidity. My second goal was to translate the amazing luminosity the fish carries in its scales. I went for a choice of tiles made from irridescent glass, gold and silver.”
Nathalie, like lots of people, has a very special relationship with clouds. As for most of us this began in childhood lying on her back in French fields staring at the sky as these amazing billowing objects became witches, castles and elephants.
“As children we become familiar and awestruck with clouds just as we are closer physically and emotionally to animals and insects,” she explains.
Her fascination with clouds has continued throughout her life and with the overlay of the adult-artist's perception she has created her five opalescent mosaic clouds. These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of Nathalie's favourite time of cloudscape....that half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. She accepts that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely appropriate for the land of the Rising Sun.
“These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of my favourite time of cloudscape....the half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. I accept that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely apposite for the land of the Rising Sun...."
What’s next? No-one knows of course, but with “In Between the Lines” I am revealing the last images before leaving this hectic world behind. All aspects of life are here, like a film we zoom out from the chaos, catapulted by a celestial spiral into the unknown, the hypnotic and the unearthly.
“THE EARTH IS SCRATCHING HERSELF...(Detail)”
This artwork requires many different materials to rub against each other. There must be some diversity and discord. The edges have to be roughly cut, an archaeological dig into strata, this is a contorted spiral of iridized glass and silver tiles, pyrite stones, turquoise, Venetian mirrors, lapis lazuli and an ammonite.
“THE EARTH IS SCRATCHING HERSELF”
The Earth is waking up, scratching herself and wondering what is going on. She is erupting in our faces. Talking back to us. Contorting and rebelling against our mistreatments and bellowing out floods, flames, eruptions of every kind. Goya’s giant, that evil incubus, is finally awake. Saturn is devouring his children. Beware now the Earth has a will of its own.
This artwork requires many different materials to rub against each other. There must be some diversity and discord. The edges have to be roughly cut, an archaeological dig into strata, this is a contorted spiral of iridized glass and silver tiles, pyrite stones, turquoise, Venetian mirrors, lapis lazuli and an ammonite.
Nathalie, like lots of people, has a very special relationship with clouds. As for most of us this began in childhood lying on her back in French fields staring at the sky as these amazing billowing objects became witches, castles and elephants.
“As children we become familiar and awestruck with clouds just as we are closer physically and emotionally to animals and insects,” she explains.
Her fascination with clouds has continued throughout her life and with the overlay of the adult-artist's perception she has created her five opalescent mosaic clouds. These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of Nathalie's favourite time of cloudscape....that half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. She accepts that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely appropriate for the land of the Rising Sun.
“These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of my favourite time of cloudscape....the half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. I accept that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely apposite for the land of the Rising Sun...."
Nathalie, like lots of people, has a very special relationship with clouds. As for most of us this began in childhood lying on her back in French fields staring at the sky as these amazing billowing objects became witches, castles and elephants.
“As children we become familiar and awestruck with clouds just as we are closer physically and emotionally to animals and insects,” she explains.
Her fascination with clouds has continued throughout her life and with the overlay of the adult-artist's perception she has created her five opalescent mosaic clouds. These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of Nathalie's favourite time of cloudscape....that half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. She accepts that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely appropriate for the land of the Rising Sun.
“These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of my favourite time of cloudscape....the half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. I accept that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely apposite for the land of the Rising Sun...."
Nathalie, like lots of people, has a very special relationship with clouds. As for most of us this began in childhood lying on her back in French fields staring at the sky as these amazing billowing objects became witches, castles and elephants.
“As children we become familiar and awestruck with clouds just as we are closer physically and emotionally to animals and insects,” she explains.
Her fascination with clouds has continued throughout her life and with the overlay of the adult-artist's perception she has created her five opalescent mosaic clouds. These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of Nathalie's favourite time of cloudscape....that half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. She accepts that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely appropriate for the land of the Rising Sun.
“These are utterly evanescent shapes which convey the atmosphere of my favourite time of cloudscape....the half hour before sunrise when clouds begin to magisterially shimmer with the first rays of fresh sunlight. I accept that in their final forms there's also a whiff of Oriental influence - entirely apposite for the land of the Rising Sun...."
Here we are in 3011 and nature has its own ways of survival. Strong and powerful, it will always win, proliferate and adapt. This is a vision of the future, the sky is green and grey, vegetation has evolved and become robotic. It is a freezing flow showing nature’s almost automative beauty, its own conscious soul. Nature is in control despite the polluted skies, civilization is in decline. It is a multi-faceted vision, almost a view of this future world under a microscope, under magnified glass. It is bright and brittle, but hypnotic and dangerous in its beauty.
This mosaic requires a rich mix of materials to give the colour a cold and clinical stare. It needed the shallow ear-shaped shells lined with mother-of-pearl that only the abalone can give. It needed the iridescence of glass and silver tiles, Venetian mirrors interspersed with metal and lenticular 3D objects, crowned with gorgeous brightly-coloured glass gems.
“ONCE UPON A TIME IN 3011 (Detail)”
Here we are in 3011 and nature has its own ways of survival. Strong and powerful, it will always win, proliferate and adapt. This is a vision of the future, the sky is green and grey, vegetation has evolved and become robotic. It is a freezing flow showing nature’s almost automative beauty, its own conscious soul. Nature is in control despite the polluted skies, civilization is in decline. It is a multi-faceted vision, almost a view of this future world under a microscope, under magnified glass. It is bright and brittle, but hypnotic and dangerous in its beauty.
This mosaic requires a rich mix of materials to give the colour a cold and clinical stare. It needed the shallow ear-shaped shells lined with mother-of-pearl that only the abalone can give. It needed the iridescence of glass and silver tiles, Venetian mirrors interspersed with metal and lenticular 3D objects, crowned with gorgeous brightly-coloured glass gems.
“IN BETWEEN THE LINES (Detail)”
What’s next? No-one knows of course, but with “In Between the Lines” I am revealing the last images before leaving this hectic world behind. All aspects of life are here, like a film we zoom out from the chaos, catapulted by a celestial spiral into the unknown, the hypnotic and the unearthly.
here are two obvious types of use of mosaic here, each with its own specific properties. There is angular rigidity, using ceramic and smalti tiles, indicative of the mundanity of everyday existence, an architectural landscape of rhythm and routine. I have encapsulated the individual life within it by figuratively using, holograms, 3D images, broken china, mirrors and turquoise and to highlight the precious moments: stained glass and more light-catching materials. The other use of mosaic is in the omnipresent spiral, where, by contrast, I have hand cut circular iridized tiles to signify nature’s celestial quality.
“While making the Koi mosaic, strangely I began to see it as much more a creature of the air than of water and ‘FREE AS THE AIR’ kept coming into my head as the title for it. When I researched the mythology of the Koi, so strongly embedded in Japanese culture, it said that according to legend, if a koi succeeds in swimming upstream and climbing the waterfalls at a point on the Yellow River called Dragon Gate, it will be transformed from a fish into a dragon – a creature of the air! I love this serendipity!
My own “Dragon Gate” was to represent the easiness and lightness that Koi seem to embody in their hypnotic fluidity. My second goal was to translate the amazing luminosity the fish carries in its scales. I went for a choice of tiles made from irridescent glass, gold and silver,” Nathalie explains.
“Mosaic is a deceptively difficult art form. I am in a constant battle with texture, form and matter to try and render the harsh essential solidity of the mosaic tiles into lightness and fluidity. I have to destroy the inevitable gravity of the mosaic medium in order to create.”
A sculptural form depicting the dramatic lines of the element of water. This elegant shape is a reminder of Nature’s simplicity and hence perfection and beauty.
For many years in conjunction with my mosaic life I have been lucky enough to devise and curate some monumental art spectaculars in the community.
After a first pilot of The Glow Project in Brighton I was immensely lucky to be chosen by ETC, the world's premier large-scale projection company to formulate the project they had always dreamed of presenting. In the Glow Project enormous tableaux of the residents of Brighton's memories and of Brighton's past were projected onto landmark buildings including the Royal Pavilion.
“GLOW PROJECT (Royal Pavilion, Brighton)”
Given the privilege of complete unfettered access to the world famous Pavilion, I was able to realise my aim of bringing details of wallpapers, paintings, vases, tapestries, sketches to the attention of the public on a grand scale.
“The Glow Project (The Royal Pavilion)”
Given the privilege of complete unfettered access to the world famous Pavilion, I was able to realise my aim of bringing details of wallpapers, paintings, vases, tapestries, sketches to the attention of the public on a grand scale.
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Royal Pavilion)”
Given the privilege of complete unfettered access to the world famous Pavilion, I was able to realise my aim of bringing details of wallpapers, paintings, vases, tapestries, sketches to the attention of the public on a grand scale.
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Royal Pavilion)”
Given the privilege of complete unfettered access to the world famous Pavilion, I was able to realise my aim of bringing details of wallpapers, paintings, vases, tapestries, sketches to the attention of the public on a grand scale.
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Adelaide Crescent)”
Glow is a spectacular after-dark multimedia event with a HUGE difference.
Massive images, contributed by local people and artists, are projected on to monumental urban surfaces - flats, office blocks or landmark buildings - transforming them into incredible works of constantly shifting art. Glow taps into the emotional lives of people who live or work behind the walls on which the projections shine, illuminating their stories outside in the city.
"I live in Adelaide Crescent and I was touched and moved that the project was taking place here. It gave me a great feeling of involvement. I adored seeing everyone's images on such a large scale, it made the most intimate moments seem larger than life."
Participant
"Within 5 minutes of the Glow project starting, I was in a better mood, it was uplifting and moving."
Spectator
Glow is a product of "holographic thinking" - just as holographs use light to conjure three dimensional images from flat surfaces, with Glow, each slide selected gains meaning from the place it occupies within the whole event. Glow is unified by the harmonious, continuous movement of many parts. It represents an order of relations and exchange between individuals and the city, between personal and public environments."
Glow creator, Nathalie Vin
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Adelaide Crescent)”
Glow is a spectacular after-dark multimedia event with a HUGE difference.
Massive images, contributed by local people and artists, are projected on to monumental urban surfaces - flats, office blocks or landmark buildings - transforming them into incredible works of constantly shifting art. Glow taps into the emotional lives of people who live or work behind the walls on which the projections shine, illuminating their stories outside in the city.
"I live in Adelaide Crescent and I was touched and moved that the project was taking place here. It gave me a great feeling of involvement. I adored seeing everyone's images on such a large scale, it made the most intimate moments seem larger than life."
Participant
"Within 5 minutes of the Glow project starting, I was in a better mood, it was uplifting and moving."
Spectator
Glow is a product of "holographic thinking" - just as holographs use light to conjure three dimensional images from flat surfaces, with Glow, each slide selected gains meaning from the place it occupies within the whole event. Glow is unified by the harmonious, continuous movement of many parts. It represents an order of relations and exchange between individuals and the city, between personal and public environments."
Glow creator, Nathalie Vin
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Adelaide Crescent)”
Glow is a spectacular after-dark multimedia event with a HUGE difference.
Massive images, contributed by local people and artists, are projected on to monumental urban surfaces - flats, office blocks or landmark buildings - transforming them into incredible works of constantly shifting art. Glow taps into the emotional lives of people who live or work behind the walls on which the projections shine, illuminating their stories outside in the city.
"I live in Adelaide Crescent and I was touched and moved that the project was taking place here. It gave me a great feeling of involvement. I adored seeing everyone's images on such a large scale, it made the most intimate moments seem larger than life."
Participant
"Within 5 minutes of the Glow project starting, I was in a better mood, it was uplifting and moving."
Spectator
Glow is a product of "holographic thinking" - just as holographs use light to conjure three dimensional images from flat surfaces, with Glow, each slide selected gains meaning from the place it occupies within the whole event. Glow is unified by the harmonious, continuous movement of many parts. It represents an order of relations and exchange between individuals and the city, between personal and public environments."
Glow creator, Nathalie Vin
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Adelaide Crescent)”
Glow is a spectacular after-dark multimedia event with a HUGE difference.
Massive images, contributed by local people and artists, are projected on to monumental urban surfaces - flats, office blocks or landmark buildings - transforming them into incredible works of constantly shifting art. Glow taps into the emotional lives of people who live or work behind the walls on which the projections shine, illuminating their stories outside in the city.
"I live in Adelaide Crescent and I was touched and moved that the project was taking place here. It gave me a great feeling of involvement. I adored seeing everyone's images on such a large scale, it made the most intimate moments seem larger than life."
Participant
"Within 5 minutes of the Glow project starting, I was in a better mood, it was uplifting and moving."
Spectator
Glow is a product of "holographic thinking" - just as holographs use light to conjure three dimensional images from flat surfaces, with Glow, each slide selected gains meaning from the place it occupies within the whole event. Glow is unified by the harmonious, continuous movement of many parts. It represents an order of relations and exchange between individuals and the city, between personal and public environments."
Glow creator, Nathalie Vin
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Adelaide Crescent)”
Glow is a spectacular after-dark multimedia event with a HUGE difference.
Massive images, contributed by local people and artists, are projected on to monumental urban surfaces - flats, office blocks or landmark buildings - transforming them into incredible works of constantly shifting art. Glow taps into the emotional lives of people who live or work behind the walls on which the projections shine, illuminating their stories outside in the city.
"I live in Adelaide Crescent and I was touched and moved that the project was taking place here. It gave me a great feeling of involvement. I adored seeing everyone's images on such a large scale, it made the most intimate moments seem larger than life."
Participant
"Within 5 minutes of the Glow project starting, I was in a better mood, it was uplifting and moving."
Spectator
Glow is a product of "holographic thinking" - just as holographs use light to conjure three dimensional images from flat surfaces, with Glow, each slide selected gains meaning from the place it occupies within the whole event. Glow is unified by the harmonious, continuous movement of many parts. It represents an order of relations and exchange between individuals and the city, between personal and public environments."
Glow creator, Nathalie Vin
“THE GLOW PROJECT (Adelaide Crescent)”
Glow is a spectacular after-dark multimedia event with a HUGE difference.
Massive images, contributed by local people and artists, are projected on to monumental urban surfaces - flats, office blocks or landmark buildings - transforming them into incredible works of constantly shifting art. Glow taps into the emotional lives of people who live or work behind the walls on which the projections shine, illuminating their stories outside in the city.
"I live in Adelaide Crescent and I was touched and moved that the project was taking place here. It gave me a great feeling of involvement. I adored seeing everyone's images on such a large scale, it made the most intimate moments seem larger than life."
Participant
"Within 5 minutes of the Glow project starting, I was in a better mood, it was uplifting and moving."
Spectator
Glow is a product of "holographic thinking" - just as holographs use light to conjure three dimensional images from flat surfaces, with Glow, each slide selected gains meaning from the place it occupies within the whole event. Glow is unified by the harmonious, continuous movement of many parts. It represents an order of relations and exchange between individuals and the city, between personal and public environments."
Glow creator, Nathalie Vin
“FREE AS THE AIR (Detail)”
“ CLOUDS (No.1)”
“IN BETWEEN THE LINES ”
“ CLOUDS (No.2)”
“CLOUDS (No.3)”
“ CLOUDS (No.4)”
“ ONCE UPON A TIME IN 3011”
“FREE AS THE AIR”
“ WATERLINE”
